If someone had told me a few years ago that I would have my own studio, teach children and adults, sell my paintings and make a living from things I created with my own hands, I would probably have laughed at them.

Not because I did not want to. Back then, I simply could not imagine being capable of anything like that.

And you know what?

Even now, I do not feel that I can manage everything. I just know now that it really does not matter.

Waiting until I am good enough

I began drawing portraits in 2018. A year later, I started painting in acrylics.

I did not have a perfectly equipped studio, years of experience, a carefully considered brand or a ten-page business plan.

I simply began.

Of course, doubts followed. Is it good enough? Will anyone like it? Will anyone actually buy a painting from me? Will I ever be able to pass on what I know to others?

I think a lot of people ask themselves similar questions. But if I had waited for them all to disappear, I would probably never have begun.

My first painting was not my best

When I look at some of my earlier work today, there are plenty of things I would do completely differently.

And that is a good thing.

That is precisely what shows me how far I have come over the years.

We often wait for perfection before we are willing to show our work to the world. But no one starts out as a professional.

Behind every painting on my website or social media are hours of work, failed attempts, reworking, frustration and joy.

Sometimes I wanted to turn the whole canvas to the wall and never look at it again. 😄 In the end, I always came back to it.

And suddenly I had my own studio

In the summer of 2024, I took another big step.

I opened my own studio.

Suddenly, I had a space not just for myself and my paintings, but for other people too. Children who wanted to draw and paint began coming, as did adults looking for a little break from everyday life through creativity.

Of course, this new experience brought doubts of its own.

Can I do this? Will I be able to teach them anything? And above all, will they actually enjoy spending this time with me?

Over time, I discovered that I enjoyed this part of my work perhaps even more than I had expected.

It also taught me a great deal.

Children do not wait until they are ready

This is what I love about them.

Give a child a canvas, a brush and some paints, and they will not usually start worrying about whether they can create a perfect painting.

They pick up the brush and begin.

They happily mix colours I would never have thought to put together. If something goes wrong, they choose another colour, paint over a bit and carry on.

We adults often do the exact opposite.

First, we analyse everything. Then we start to doubt ourselves, and finally we wait for the right moment.

But sometimes that moment never comes.

Running a business has taught me exactly the same thing

Working for yourself can look wonderful from the outside.

The paintings, studio, courses, photo shoots and social media are only one part of my business.

Alongside all that, I deal with invoices, administration, the website, client communications, orders, marketing and a million other things.

I have had to learn most of it as I go, and I am still learning new things.

Some ideas work brilliantly, while others turn out to be complete failures. When something does not work, I change it and try another approach.

In the past, I might have spent weeks wondering whether to give something a go. These days, I am much more likely to tell myself:

Just try it. If it does not work out, at least you will know that this is not the way forward.

You do not have to know where it will lead

When I drew my first portrait, I had no idea what would come next.

I was not thinking about large canvases back then. Having my own studio seemed a very distant prospect. And it never even crossed my mind how many people I would one day teach.

Perhaps it is a good thing I did not know what the future held.

If I had seen all the steps ahead of me, I might have been frightened before I even took the first one. 😄

In the end, everything came gradually: my first painting, more creative work, my first commission, my first client, my first course and my own studio.

Then came another idea.

And another after that.

I still do not have it all figured out

Perhaps this is what I most want to say in this article.

I have no secret formula, and I have no idea exactly where I will be in five years. I certainly do not wake up every morning feeling that I have my life completely under control.

Sometimes I have doubts, get something wrong or change my mind.

Every so often, I have an idea that seems a little crazy. I try it anyway.

Over the years, I have come to understand something important:

The moment when you say to yourself, ‘Now I am finally ready’, may never come.

We often expect to gain confidence first and only then take action.

I think it works the other way round.

First, we do it. And that is how we gain confidence.

So, if you are waiting for something…

Perhaps you want to start painting, start a business, sign up for a course, change jobs or finally show someone your work.

Perhaps you have an entirely different dream that you keep putting off until ‘someday’.

You do not need to know the whole story in advance.

You just need to take the first step.

The second will follow. And suddenly you will realise that you have come much further than you could have imagined at the beginning.

I took my own first step several years ago, with a pencil in my hand.

And I am still curious to see where it will take me next.